Of Tennis and Ice Prince
by ScherzoVivace
Summary: A high school 1st year Shiroki Sora goes to U-17 camp... dressed as a BOY? As she seeks for challenge and prestige, she befriends an icy prince, Tokugawa Kazuya. It's their friendship, adventure, and love story. TokugawaxOC
1. A Bit of a Change

Of Tennis and Ice Prince

**This is a Tokugawa KazuyaXOC story. sweetchill strongly encouraged for me to write a TokugawaxOC fic as she (I'm guessing) reviewed some of my stories. Thanks, and I was planning to write one, so here it is! :)**

**I do not own PoT but I own my OC**

Chapter 1: A Bit of a Change

'_Thoughts, non-speech, flashback' _

"I just want to play tennis. Please, please, pleaaaase can you somehow get me in, uncle?" A girl with dark navy hair and greyish eyes bothered her "uncle." Actually, he wasn't her blood-related uncle; she just called him her uncle because she saw him many times ever since she was little. It grew accustomed to her.

"I said NO, Sora, for the fifth time already." A man with long hair, ridiculously tall and slender physique, answered.

"But, but… I promise I won't get found out! Uncle I'm not going to give up until you say yes!" She said, almost shouting. The man groaned, rubbing his temple a few times.

"Alright, alright." He finally gave up and said.

"YESSS!"

"This is _only_ because you're capable, okay? Don't you go on telling this to other girls."

"Of course not! Thanks Itaru-ji-chan! You're the best!" She gave him a tight hug. "So, when can I go?"

"Well, that depends… but I'm sure you can attend starting tomorrow since the new participants are coming. But I can't make a promise if you can stay or not, honey."

"Huh? Do they drop people out?"

"You'll know when you get there." He said. "It might be rigorous, I tell you."

"I understand." She said. "Oh! And don't tell my mom okay? I don't want her to freak out and fly all the way here from the other side of the earth."

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Cool! Then I'll see you tomorrow morning!" She said and dashed out of his office. Saitou Itaru sighed but laughed, amused by the girl's enthusiasm.

"Good luck, you'll need it." He mumbled.

Shiroki Sora was a high school first year who was into tennis more than any other girls of her generation. Behind her rather feminine facial features she was easy-going and boyish.

"Alright, I just gotta… cut my hair…" She said as she snipped her hair with a pair of scissors. "Darn, it's not working." She mumbled as she tried to look at the back of her head which terribly failed.

She dialed her best friend's number and called her over to her house.

"Yui, could you cut my hair in the back?" She grinned and said as she opened the door to greet her friend.

"Wh-Wha-What happened to your hair?" She freaked out, pointing at her hair in horror.

"I can explain. Let's go to my room first." She said. The two went into her room and Yui freaked out more as she saw a pile of hair on the floor.

"OH NO! YOUR HAIR! IT WAS SO LONG AND PRETTY!" She cried out.

"I can explain. So, I begged Itaru-jichan to get me into U-17 tennis camp!" She put up a v-sign and said, laughing.

"And why do you need to cut your hair for that?"

"Cuz' it's an all-boys camp." She simply stated.

"…" Yui blinked. "WHAAAAAT?"

"So~ I need you to finish cutting my hair on the back!"

"But—it's an all boys camp! _All boys_ camp!" She put an emphasis on all boys.

"Yeah. That's why I'm sneaking in. Hehe."

"What if you get found out! What if the guys molest you and rape you!"

"Aw come on, you know that won't happen! I'm not that vulnerable."

"But you'd probably look like a feminine guy and bulky, gross guys will try to rape you!"

"Oh lord, Yui. Itaru-jichan's one of the head coaches there so don't worry about that."

"But—"

"Just trim my hair, please." She handed her the scissors and said, turning back for her to finish cutting the long strand at the back. With trembling hands Yui snipped her hair little by little; after a while, her hair fell only at a neck-length.

"I liked your hair…" Yui frowned, looking at a pile of hair.

"Dude, hair grows out, don't worry."

"How long are you staying?"

"Hm. Uh…" She pondered—then drew blank. "Actually, I don't know. Ahahaha." She scratched her head smugly. "Maybe until I'm found out?"

Yui face-palmed at this. As serious she was when it came to many things, Sora was sometimes too easy-going and even carefree.

"Well no worries! As long as I can get some challenge in tennis I'm fine!" She exclaimed.

"How far do you plan on getting better? You're already the top for girls in this area. Maybe even the nation."

"Yeah, but girls aren't fun to play when they're our age. They don't practice, they don't care, they just _do_ talking to boys and dating and shit." She scoffed. "Anyways, I plan on finding a challenge. I hope I get to play a lot of people there."

"Whatever you say…"

The Day After—

"I'm off to the new world~!" She exclaimed as Saitou opened a trunk to his car, putting her luggage inside. Yui and Sora had a sleepover since Sora wouldn't be meeting or hanging out as regularly as she used to.

"Bye Yui! I'll call you after I get there!"

"Have fun!" She said. The two gave each other a long, good-bye hug and Sora got in the car.

"Bye~!"

Saitou stepped on the pedal and started driving.

"I'm excited!"

"It's a bit too early, Sora." He said, glancing a little. "Wait until you get there."

"Okay…?"

"Anyways, did you have to cut your hair that short…? I loved your hair, it was beautiful…!" He sniffed a little and said.

"If I wear a wig I'll be busted quickly. I don't wanna risk that." She said.

They drove up a mountain—it was a sunny summer day in Tokyo. After driving up a squiggly road they reached a black steel gate that was overwhelmingly large. There were surveillance cameras too.

"Holy cow…!" She marveled at things of such high-tech in the middle of nowhere.

After a few seconds the gate clunked open and revealed a fancy road. They drove more until the buildings were visible; as Sora looked out the window she spotted many boys around her age either dressed in the U-17 camp training uniforms or regular training clothes for those who just came like her.

Saitou parked his car and the two stepped out. She flung the bag around her shoulder, holding another bag in her hand.

"New comers, please gather at the center court! Again, new comers, please gather at the center court!" A speaker announced throughout the lot. Those who didn't have U-17 jerseys headed towards the central court.

"Alright, I'll go too ji-chan! Thanks for taking me here!" She waved as she ran towards the crowd.

"Good luck!" He waved back; as much as he believed in her, he was still worried.

Sora kept thinking about last night when she practiced speaking , acting, and making her sound like a guy. And even walking like one. Well, she really didn't need to worry too much about that—she was actually pretty boyish.

"_Ooh!" She exclaimed as she put the bandage around her chest, making it flat. _

"_Wow, it really does make it flat. Man, you're seriously like an ironing board." Yui laughed and said. "And you look like a guy too. Actually, your face is kinda feminine… I really hope no one tries to rape you." _

"_Ugh, don't worry about anyone raping me, Yui." She rolled her eyes and said. "Well, do I look like a guy?" She change the tone of her voice a little lower and asked. _

"_Pfft, yeah. You sound like a feminine guy with no growth spurt." She stifled her laugh and replied. _

"_As long as I resemble a guy it's fine." _

"Damn, this place is huge…" She mumbled as she looked around the courts.

"All new comers, please stand in a single file line by the bleachers, facing the courts." The speaker spoke again and the crowd started to get in a line. There weren't many participants; maybe about 30 to 40 or so. She stood at the very end, next to a pretty tall guy with dark navy blue hair like hers. He seemed pretty mean.

Then the one who trained, with their white jerseys, stood in a single file line, facing the new comers.

As soon as the line was organized, the speaker announced again:

"Please look straight towards the other line." When Sora did look, she saw a ridiculously old-looking guy with a beard and blonde hair with headband around his head.

"Choose a player that you would like to have a match with; you have to choose one from the opposite group. This will be a singles match."

As it announced everyone walked around to find a person to play with.

"Hey, that guys looks weak." They whispered as they found an easy target.

'_Definitely that guy with the beard._'Sora thought as he rushed towards that guy.

"Oh no." Itaru mumbled as he saw Sora through the surveillance camera. She was walking towards Byoudouin Houou, number one of the facility. "I get you're adventurous Sora, but…!"

"Hou… your little girl's got some guts." Kurobe Yukio, the strategic coach, said in amusement.

"Sometimes it gets the better of her." He groaned.

"Hi, I'm—Hm?" She noticed that she and the mean-looking guy next to her were facing the same person as she was about to introduce herself to the bearded dude.

"I came first." He said.

"What? I came before you!" She exclaimed. "I'm going to play this guy, so back off." She scowled.

"You can go find someone else." He curtly stated, his attention only on the bearded guy.

"_You _can go find someone else. I'm playing this guy right here." She said. She looked around to find someone without an opponent—none. They looked at each other and glared; he was not backing down. Neither was she.

"Byoudouin-kun, you're playing both of them. Is that alright?" The speaker announced.

"You bet." the bearded guy answered.

'_So his name was Byoudouin,'_ Sora thought. _'Weird ass name.' _She snickered inside. _'Anyways, I hope he's good at tennis.' _

"Play me first." The boy next to her said.

"I'm okay with it as long as you don't tire him out." She smirked. Then she turned to Byoudouin. "Or, mister, beat him fast and play me. You look like the big shot." She said. Byoudouin burst out laughing.

"Cheeky, cheeky. Don't worry, kiddo."

"Then, everyone, please get to whichever court is empty. If you don't have a court, then please wait for the match to end. Report your scores after the match, and do not leave until everyone is done."

"I'm Byoudouin Houou, high school 3rd year. So, what's your name?" He asked Sora.

"Shiroki Sora, high school 1st year. Nice to meet you, Byoudouin-san."

"Tokugawa Kazuya, 1st year." He just answered curtly.

"Not much words, I see. Well, let's get to the court." He walked to the court directly behind him which no one took.

'_Heh… he must have some power.' _Sora thought. The match started immediately; those two were _good_. However, the Tokugawa guy was crushed within 20 minutes with a score of 6-1. And what's more, he didn't even break a sweat; Sora felt fired up.

She grabbed her racquet and walked onto the court while Tokugawa walked back to the bench.

"Scared, kiddo?" He said, towering over her.

"Not at all. You know, people like you are my step stones." She said, smirking.

"Hou… cheeky indeed. Show me what you got." He tossed the ball for her to serve first.

'_I'll definitely prove myself in this camp!'_


	2. This Douchebag

Of Tennis and Ice Prince

Chapter 2: This Douchebag

Sora got ready to serve at the baseline.

"What kind of player is she? The data is rather… intriguing." Kurobe looked at her pentagon analysis and found that there was no statistic about any of the five areas.

"I don't know." Saitou smiled a bit too happily.

"Huh?" He cocked his eyebrows.

"Even I can't seem to really grasp her play style. In a way she's an all rounder—but her style changes so drastically. Sometimes she gets very analytic, yet sometimes she's all out just by her instincts. Sometimes she's defensive but sometimes she's very aggressive. Sometimes her shots are sporadic but sometimes they're strictly consistent." He said as he watched the screen and saw her toss the ball in the air and hit it.

"That sounds very…"

"Irregular, I know." He said. "But I can't seem to find egregious flaws in any of the characteristics that I listed. Or more. It feels like they're all her play styles."

"Isn't that a backfire for her?"

"Not exactly." He looked back at the screen; she was at the net. She hit and pushed hard for a couple of shots—and surprised Byoudouin with a very unexpected, random drop shot. "It's quite effective to some point. And that's why I let her come here."

"Hehe, didn't think of that, did'ya?" Sora grinned and said, pointing her racquet at the opponent who was slightly taken aback by such an expected shot.

"Hahaha, you don't say!" He laughed loudly. "This is quite interesting. And here I thought you look like a wussy who'd get knocked out just running around the court!"

She took the first game like that; they switched courts and Byoudouin got ready to serve.

"But she needs to find her real play style—for her sake. She has no "perfection" of her own style. It may place her as the top in an intermediate level… but to advance further she needs to find her style. Maybe it'd be the best for her to visit Coach Nyuudou…"

After an hour, she was knocked out on the ground, huffing and puffing crazily. She lost with a score of 6-2; it was better than the former dude, at least. Well, by one game. But that still counts.

"Holy shit he's good." She let out and chuckled to herself.

"In total, there are 20 winners and 8 losers. I would request the eight losers to leave this camp immediately." The speaker announced as everyone finished reporting their scores.

Sora shot up. "WHAT!"

The Tokugawa dude looked troubled and shocked also.

"What kind of bullshit's this?" One of the other losers shouted towards the surveillance camera.

"That guy we played was no joke!" Sora yelled and Tokugawa nodded.

"Please leave immediately. These players were chosen so that you could beat your opponent; these players are from the last court—you should not have a problem beating them." The speaker said again. "A bus will be waiting for you at the gate."

"But—"

"If you won't leave then we'll always force you out." The speaker said. "Before we call the security, please head out to the main gate."

At this no one said anything; the eight losers packed up, including Sora and Tokugawa, and headed out to the main gate. They got in the bus; no one spoke or talked while riding.

"Are you seriously okay with this!" One of the guys stood up and yelled.

"Well, what are we going to do? Go back? I doubt they'd let us in." Sora said, looking out the window.

"We lost. No choice." Tokugawa stated also; then the bus abruptly stopped.

"Get off here; someone should be waiting for you." The bus driver said; without knowing the players stepped out and walked into the forest with a rough path already made.

"Where is this…?" The eight players walked in—until they saw Saitou Coach in view.

"You're… one of the coaches." One of the players confirmed.

"That's right." He smiled.

'_What's he thinking?' _Sora pondered.

"You clearly lost to your opponents that you could have beaten." He said. "Although… there were some exceptions." He smiled at Tokugawa and Sora.

"I thought we were going back home."

"You were. But… if you'd like to try climbing the mountain behind me and reach the top, you may." He stated with an innocent smile. "So, what do you say? Would you like to improve more?"

"What's at the top?"

"I cannot answer that." He answered, still smiling.

"We're not going to climb it without knowing what's up there!" One of the guys shouted and said.

Sora and Tokugawa already made their way towards the mountain and started climbing it. They didn't care if the others weren't going to climb. It's not like they were forced to conform.

"They're already one step ahead of you." Saitou said, pointing at the two behind his back. One by one, grumbling, the players followed Sora and Tokugawa up the mountain.

"Good luck." He mumbled. "Especially you, Sora."

Sora huffed and puffed as she grabbed onto the rocks; damn, the bandage around her chest was getting really uncomfortable. She then felt her head spin—and lost the grip on the rock.

"Uwaahh!" She yelped as she braced herself for an impact; but someone caught her by the waist. She opened her eyes and found none other than Tokugawa.

"Are you okay." He asked more like an order.

"Y-Yeah. Thanks." She said, grabbing onto the rocks once more. He let go and without another word continued to climb. _'Che, at least say 'you're welcome,' or 'no problem,' or stuff like that… douchebag.'_ Sora scowled inwardly.

They climbed and climbed; as they reached the top, they were greeted with a flat surface, and, surprisingly, a rigid and poorly made tennis court.

"W-What is this…" Sora mumbled and looked around. There were used up tennis balls in a basket and a cabin by the cliff.

"Are you the scumbag losers?" Someone walked towards them; he had a very filthy traditional apparel on with a gourd attached to his belt around the waist. He was not fat, but not skinny—more like large because of all the muscle. He had a bushy beard and slanted eyes that made him seem mean. Or was he really?

"I'm Coach Nyuudo." He introduced, scratching his belly. "You'll be under my coaching from now on, filthy scumbags."

"This is a training…?" The others mumbled between themselves.

"So get to work if you want to beat those U-17 winners! Run to the cliff and back, now!" He barked; Sora and Tokugawa immediately put their bags down and started running towards the cliff they could see far away. The others followed staggeringly; one by one, they jogged towards the cliff.

"What do you think he is?" Tokugawa asked as he jogged along with Sora at a same pace.

"Are you asking me? Like hell I'd know." She scoffed. "But if he can help me get better then I'm staying."

It took an hour to go and come back from the cliff. When they came back, Coach Nyuudou was drinking alcohol out of his gourd, doing nothing.

They noticed another group of players wearing black shirt and black pants.

"You slow scumbags. It should take you only half an hour!" He yelled. "Get changed. Wear the t-shirts over there hanging on the rails." He said. They went to change; Sora was not appreciating this.

'_Shit, shit, shit. What do I do…?' _She freaked out and thought. When she looked around, the guys were getting their clothes off. _'Okay, I'm going to change, safe-style.'_ She just pulled her arms inside and put the shirt over—then put the shirt on top underneath, and took off the old one.

'_Shit what am I going to do with the pants? Oh, crap…' _She gulped.

"Why aren't you changing? You changed your shirt in such a hard way." One of the players asked.

"U-Um, well… I have a huge burn scar on my thigh and my back so yeah… I'll just go change in…" A little shack caught her eyes. "I'll go in there! Ahaha." She laughed nervously and ran towards the little shack.

They really didn't mind her and continued changing. Sora safely changed in the shack; she was glad that there was something with at least four walls and a roof.

She came out quickly and rushed over to the other players now dressed in simple white shirts and pants.

"Alright, scumbags." Nyuudou let out a burp and said. "Let's get started with the real training. Welcome to hell." He smirked, no, more like grinned evilly and looked down at them from the boulder he was sitting on.

They trained—swung racquets, jogged, climbed, swung racquets again, and jogged. The sun started to set; Nyuudou assembled all the players. There were about 20 players in black and 8 in white.

"You're going to play on that court. White versus black, if you miss you drop out. Play until no one's left on the other side. Whoever loses gets to sleep in the cave. Now, get to it!" He hollered. Players all moved into the court one by one, groaning a little. Sora was just glad that she could hit a ball.

They began the game; the older players in black put on an almost mocking look and smirked. The ball tossed in the air and it flew towards the player at the very front; as soon as the ball touched the ground, it bounced in a random direction and flew past the player who was already in a ready position.

"You! You're out." Nyuudou pointed at him and said. That player walked out in disbelief.

The black jerseys served again in between two players. They both tried to hit it—and ended up getting in each other's way.

"You two are out!"

"We're not going to win like this…" Sora bit her lips and mumbled. She carefully observed the ground; observing only wasn't going to help, however. Then, a ball was flying towards her.

"That's why you use split steps," Sora said, and hopped up. As the ball landed she observed, and as the ball bounced towards a her right, she jumped and landed—chasing the ball, and hitting it right back. Tokugawa was doing the same; it seemed that he was well-trained with techniques on the court.

"You guys can volley; that's way easier." Sora said also. The others nodded and moved up to the net. They began taking out the black jerseys one by one—

"TIME'S UP!" Nyuudou yelled. There were four white jerseys left, including Sora and Tokugawa; and there were six black jerseys left.

"Damn, we were so close…"

With a disappointment behind, the eight white jerseys got their sleeping bags and placed it inside a cave. Sora somehow ended up placing her sleeping bag next to Tokugawa's.

"Hey, can you pass me the pillow?" She asked. Tokugawa grabbed and tossed it to her speechlessly. "Thanks."

"Hn."

'_Che! What a rude jerk!' _Sora growled inside. Although she was discontented about the fact that she was sleeping next to the jerk, she fell asleep due to the hard training.

When they were fast asleep and moon was up—

"WAKE UP, WAKE UP!" Nyuudou banged on the steel frying pan, making the most annoying and loud sound ever. "Get up and give me 300 racquet swings!" He hollered.

"This late at night…?" The players woke up rubbing their eyes.

"Ya losers think ya can beat those U-17 players without working day and night? Get to it!"

They all grumbled and got outside.

"You and you." Nyuudou called Sora and Tokugawa. "I have a special mission for you."

* * *

**Chi-su! Cheers to you! **

**Thanks for reading this chapter. Why not leave a review and hit the subscribe button down below? **

**Any questions, personal questions, suggestions, feedback are very much appreciated. **

**Then until the next update! Thanks and love you all :)**

**ScherVi**


	3. Risky

Of Tennis and Ice Prince

Chapter 3: Risky

"I have a special mission for you two." Nyuudou belched and said.

"What is it?"

"That stupid drunkard…!" Sora mumbled under her breath as she and Tokugawa ran towards the camp, huffing and puffing. "What's he _thinking,_ telling us to _steal_ alcohol?"

"Doesn't seem too fit for a training." Tokugawa stated, running next to her.

"No shit. I don't see how I could get stronger by stealing alcohol." Sora grumbled again. Then she abruptly stopped as she saw a pitfall—

"What the hell?" She yelled, stepping back a little.

"It's a… river…" Tokugawa said.

"Yes, yes, of course, it's a moving body of water." Sora stated sarcastically. "Come on, I see step stones." She hopped down onto one of the rocks. They began hopping from one rock to another carefully—a fall into the river would mean instant death since the current was so strong.

"Hey, Tokuga—" She froze as she saw him slip as if he was in a slow motion. "Tokugawa!" She reached for him; he grabbed onto her hand, but not being strong enough she fell into the river with him.

When she woke up, Tokugawa was lying down next to her, not moving an inch.

"Hey, Tokugawa." She shook him a little. He didn't move. "Tokugawa?"

He lied there, not moving. His chest wasn't rising up and falling down.

"Tokugawa!" She panicked and put her ear to his chest. It wasn't beating.

"Holy shit." She immediately began pumping his chest. "Wake up!" She panicked and pumped harder.

'_There's no choice…!' _She lowered her head, pinched his nose, and put her lips to his. She repeated the steps over and over again until he coughed out water.

Sora immediately let out a long, relieving sigh and sat back.

"What… where…" He looked around and mumbled.

"You drowned. You fricking _fell_ and now we're here. Nice going." Sora scoffed and said. "At least thank the person who just saved you."

"You…?"

"Who else?"

"How'd you…?"

"I gave you a CPR." She blinked and said. Tokugawa blinked and stared at her; then he immediately blushed. Good thing it was dark.

"Now, let's get going." She stood up and said. "Tokugawa?"

"H-Huh? Yeah. Let's go." He snapped out and stood up also. Then he spotted something weird about Sora—he had a bandage underneath his wet shirt.

"What are you wearing inside?" He asked.

"Huh?" She shot back, surprised. Then she looked down and found that the water turned her white t-shirt completely see-through. "O-Oh. Um… it's…" She avoided his gaze. "I just have a really bad scar, so I try not to leave it uncovered. Yeah."

"Hm." He shrugged, pretty convinced.

'_Phew…'_

Then the two began heading towards the building that was seen over the trees.

They sneaked past the guards by getting on top of the roof and hiding behind poles and corners. They entered the building, and found the cafeteria.

"Here it is!" She ran to the cabinets and started opening them. "Holy crap… so much food! Om nom nom nom nom" She stuffed the food into her mouth like a hungry beats while Kazuya stared at her horridly.

"What?" She frowned. "I'm hungry. Dude, they have oven baked pizza too." She pointed; Kazuya sighed, but reached to grab some food anyways. He had to admit, he was pretty damn hungry. He's been hungry ever since he started training.

"Hm?" He saw a red string hanging across on the other side of the counter. On the other side of the counter, he saw his favorite food: salmon steak. "Shiroki, do you know what this is?"

"Huh? Hm… I don't know. What's this thing randomly doing here?" She asked, turned around, and kept searching for food. "…But anyways, it doesn't look safe so don't touch it just in ca—"

As she turned around to look at him, he was there, touching the string to get his favorite dish.

"Eh…" Miki stopped mid-sentence and stared at him.

"Uh…"

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Waaagh!" Miki spazzed by the sudden noise. "GOOD GOING YOU FUCKTARD!"

"S-Sorry…"

"HOLY FUCK, "SORRY" ISN'T GOING TO GET US OUT OF HERE! LET'S GO!"

So the two dashed out of the kitchen graciously, leaving the food behind. They ran past couple of guards and guard dogs (miraculously) and managed to find their trail that would take them back to the mountain.

"Ugh… my beef steak…" Miki sobbed over her piece of steak that she was half-done with.

"S-Sorry…" He again apologized.

"Che, whatever. I still took some with me." She took some salamis and sausages out of her bag, handing one to Kazuya. "Eat, I know you didn't eat that much."

"Thanks." He said, very touched by her generosity. _'Maybe he's not as bad as I thought.'_

The two safely made it back to the camp; they handed Nyuudou his alcohol jugs and made their way back into the cave to get some sleep.

The next day—

"Alright, you scums! A sprint to the waterfall and back! START!" Nyuudou hollered and all the kids in white uniform scurried their way to the waterfall.

'_That fucking drunkard… I'm all sweaty and gross and ugh, what do I do if I start getting my period even though it'd be not until another three weeks later…!' _Sora mumbled under her breath. _'I WANNA TAKE A SHOWER…!'_

Even if she didn't like taking showers, she had to; it's not like she could go on for weeks without cleaning herself. She needed to find an alternative.

She looked around while sprinting and found a small pond-like spring with nice, clean water.

'_I could go there during the night! Now I just need to know when that drunkard goes off to sleep…' _

So after the tiring practices and ridiculous training, Sora waited for everyone to fall asleep; when she snuck outside, Nyuudou was just getting into his hut, yawning.

'_Yess…!' _She triumphantly clenched her fists and scurried over to the little spring in the woods.

When she went to the spot where she found the spring, she was greeted by a clear spring shone under somewhat dim moonlight. She looked around a few times; then she undressed and slowly dipped herself into the pool.

'_Hooooly shit, it's cold…!' _She shivered a little. But still, water on her body felt good since the last time she showered, which was two days ago.

Kazuya slowly opened his eyes; he still couldn't get used to the rocky surface that he had to sleep on.

'_Can't sleep… maybe I'll take a light jog to the cliff and back.' _He thought, got up, and started jogging.

The trail was dead quiet, with only his footsteps every second. Then his sensitive ears caught an unfamiliar noise. He stopped, and listened closer.

He heard water. It wasn't a running water, it sounded more like a splash. He followed the sound, into the woods.

"Aaahhhh now this is what I call heaven…" Sora let out. Then she heard a rustle.

A boy popped out behind the bush; the moonlight was shining directly onto his face—but from his view, he could see nothing but a silhouette of a naked woman.

"Wha-wha—!" He fumbled a bit.

'_OH FUCK!' _

He rubbed his eye, and meanwhile, Sora found it as a good chance—she quickly submerged under water, grabbing the clothes to the side.

"Huh?" After rubbing his eye, Kazuya saw nothing but a clear spring with few ripples.

'_Maybe I'm just really tired…' _He thought to himself and decided to head back to get some sleep.

Sora carefully peeped out behind a small boulder. He was gone.

'_That was soooo close… Damn that stupid Tokugawa! Giving me troubles every minute!' _She grit her teeth and shot a glare towards where he was standing.

"Well, he wouldn't be gone if he saw me. I guess I could wash up more and head back."

Kazuya jogged to the caves. And as he entered, he noticed the empty sleeping bag next to his.

'_Wait a minute… this was empty even before I left, right? Where is Shiroki?' _He thought, staring at the sleeping bag. _'Ah well. None of my business.' _ He shrugged his shoulders and lied back down.

'_Where would he go in the middle of the night? This long?' _He started thinking again without knowing. _'Maybe he went for a jog like me? And what was that woman? Or a girl? Was that a ghost? Nah, ghosts don't exist. I'm sure they wouldn't go for a bath. Hmm, maybe I'm just dreaming… wet dreams? But that wasn't even a dre—'_

Then he sensed a presence in the cave entrance. The person walked in slowly, and lied down next to him. It was Shiroki.

"…Where'd you go?" He quietly asked.

"Huh? Oh, for a little jog. I couldn't sleep." She answered.

"Huh. I didn't see you."

"Why, did you go for a jog too?" She asked; she was getting a bit nervous.

"Yeah. But I turned back midway."

"Oh, that's probably why. I went to the cliff and rested there a bit." She said. _'Hehe, I'm a genius.' _

"Oh." He answered. "Well, then, good night."

"Good night."

* * *

Please refer to my other updated story, Lucifer of Rikkadai, for two important news.


	4. Just One More

Chapter 4: Just One More

Normal

_Flashback, thoughts, non-speech_

"Hurry up and move, ya scumbags!"

Everyone hurried around, hopping from rock to rock on a stream of river.

"Now get moving to the next station!"

When the group arrived at the so-called "station," they were greeted by… tricycles?

"What the hell are these?"

"Are we supposed to carry it?"

"RIDE IT UP THE HILL, NOW!"

* * *

'_Haa… I wonder if Sora's safe.' _Saitou thought, worrying about a girl who was unfortunately sent to the mountains, surrounded by boys.

"So, what's the plan?" Kurobe came and sat down in front of him.

"Hm?"

"About your niece, I mean."

"Oh. I was just thinking about her… I wonder if she's holding up well."

"Well it's still a miracle that Mifune didn't find out about her secrets."

"That's true. But I bet she's having a terrible time there."

* * *

"WEEEE A TRICYCLE!" She was definitely excited, shouting out wees and yayys as she hurriedly pedaled on the tricycle. Then she looked next to her—and there he was, Tokugawa Kazuya, who was pedaling on the tricycle so ridiculously just like everyone else.

"Pfft. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Sora laughed out loud. Although it wasn't too hard for her because she was small compared to others, Tokugawa had a ridiculously tall physique—and it just looked too funny.

"Shut up." He scowled and turned red from embarrassment.

After hard training they went off to eat lunch—rather, something that they had to hunt in the mountains.

"It's actually not that bad." Sora commented and others nodded. They were eating fish, some edible vegetables, and rice that Mifune was so kind enough to provide.

"Hey, when do you think we're going to leave here?" Someone asked;

"I doubt any soon." Sora first replied. "I mean, if you think about how impossible the training is right now."

"I want to go home…" One kid next to Sora sniffled a cry.

"Dude, you're doing fine!" Sora pat him on the back, a little too hard, but nonetheless tried to cheer up the boy.

"We all have to beat those stupid winners when we go back!" She said and everyone nodded.

"Oh, oh, and I saw this incredible thing back at the camp," this one guy began, "and that dude you played, Shiroki, he was rallying with like, 10 balls at a time."

"Huh?" Sora and Tokugawa cocked their eyebrows.

"How… wait… huh?" Sora was not believing what the guy had just told her.

"I know, it's pretty unbelievable but he swung 10 times or so really fast. It almost looked simultaneous."

"That's crazy!"

"In other words, Shiroki and Tokugawa were pretty unlucky to play that guy."

Sora just stared at the fish. Then she started to eat it really fast.

"I'm done! Thanks for the food!" She shot up and left the table.

"Where're you going?"

"I need to see something for a bit!" She said, turning around as she ran after grabbing her racquet.

She reached the end of the cliff after sprinting up the hill. It didn't tire her out anymore; she was getting stronger. She gulped and gripped the racquet on one hand, and about three old, useless balls on the other hand.

She tossed all three up at once, and swung, aiming to hit all three before they reached the ground.

Pong pong pong

Three pongs rang out simultaneously, and all three hit the same spot on the tree trunk she aimed at.

She stared at her hand in disbelief. Then she took out one more from her pocket.

She tossed the balls, four this time—and swung.

Pong pong pong pong

Four pongs rang out, again hitting the same spot.

"You could do it." Kazuya appeared out of nowhere, hands in his pockets, racquet tucked under his arm. He walked over next to her, tossed up 4 balls, and hit them—he hit it simultaneously too.

"You could do it too!"

"Yeah. We're the only two who can. The guys back at the cabin tried to hit three simultaneously, but… they couldn't."

"Hold on." Sora walked over to a pile of balls, grabbed 8—much too many to carry in her arms, and stood in front of the tree.

"Eight?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I want to try."

She tossed them up high—

Pong pong pong pong pong pong pong

After 7 successful pongs, she heard a dead noise by her feet—she had missed one.

"You try too."

Kazuya had the same result; his max was 7.

"Hm…" They both stared down at their racquet.

"And that guy did 10 or more…?"

Kazuya nodded.

"Che." She grunted.

* * *

So after that they trained harder and harder; about two weeks into the mountain training, they were getting used to the rigors of the routines.

Meanwhile, Kazuya noticed that Sora was leaving in the middle of the night about every two days or so.

'_Where's he going…? Is he really going jogging this regularly?' _He wondered one day and decided to follow her.

Sora entered the spring like the usual; it wasn't too cold to her anymore. Then she heard some footsteps.

'_Oh no. Damn, that Tokugawa retard.' _She cursed, hid everything in a bush, and hid behind a rock. There he passed—he was jogging towards the cliff.

'_Wait. AW SHIT.' _She cursed. _'If he finds out that I'm not there he'll definitely be suspicious! Come on, Sora, make up some excuses…' _She thought hurriedly as she got out of the spring and started drying herself.

After she was fully dressed she carefully left the spring and jogged down the path. Then something tapped on her shoulder.

"WWAAGGHHH!" She almost spat her heart out;

"It's me."

She heard a familiar voice.

"T-T-T-T-Tokugawa you…!"

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"How am I supposed to know if you're coming when I can't hear even a footstep?"

"I was just waiting here."

"H-Huh?"

"…"

"…"

He just stared at her.

"You just came out of there, right?"

"Uh… yeah? _AH FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK" _

"…Did you see the woman too?" He asked.

"_Wait. What? _HUH?"

"Is it just me? I saw a woman take a bath here one time. Did you come to look for that too?" He gave her a slightly condescending look that told, 'so-I-see-you're-a-teenage-boy-after-all.'

"Uh… y-yeah!" She stuttered but answered. "Ahaha, ain't she hot!"

"Didn't see her face but at least she had a nice body." He said, making her fluster in red. "Who do you think that woman is…?"

"Maybe… a ghost." Sora made a scary face and Tokugawa flinched a little.

"Don't do that."

"EEHH, don't tell me… YOU'RE SCARED?"

"I'm… not."

"YOU ARE!"

"Shut up."

"Che, boring…" She pouted, but inside she was just glad that Tokugawa was just gullible.

"Hey… why's your hair so wet?" He noticed that her hair was drenched in water.

"O-Oh!" She touched her hair. It was definitely soaked. "I just decided to wash my hair a bit at the spring! He, he, ha, ha!"

Tokugawa gave a slightly approving look.

"Well anyways, let's go back!" She laughed awkwardly and said.

"Alright."

The two walked back and Sora was thinking of ways to torture this asshole next to her.

"What middle school did you graduate?"

"Huh? Oh, Rikkaidai." She replied.

"Ahh, it's known for the best tennis team." He said. "Were you in the team?"

"Yup." She replied. _'Hehe, technically I'm not lying because I was the buchou in girls' team.' _She giggled inside.

* * *

"_Rikkaidai Fuzoku, 3-2! Rikkaidai Fuzoku wins the nationals championship!" The speaker in the arena announced and everyone cheered. _

"_SORA BUCHOU!" Everyone clung onto Sora and started weeping; _

"_We did it guys!" _

_After that, the girls' team was praised for their performance at Nationals. And, as the buchou, Sora was recognized as the key player in a key event that year._

_And on top of that, the boys won their second Nationals also—and Sora kept a good relationship with the boys' team._

* * *

"So you know about Rikkaidai… How about you?"

"Hirashouji. It's a private school."

"Oh. Which high school are you going to then?"

"I'm attending Minagata."

"Hey, that's our rivaling high school. I heard that they improved so they'll probably meet us at the district preliminaries next year."

"Yeah. Maybe I'll meet you at a match during tennis season."

"Sure. _I doubt it cuz I won't be in the boys' team._"

"Are there anyone in this camp from Rikkaidai?"

"Nope, not this y—HUUUUOOO" She gasped. _'Oh no… what if…! What if those regulars next year come in! All the tennis players from last year should know me! Do they? Shit I'm busted for sure then! Especially those Big Three second years and Mouri! Damn it, he's good enough to attend this camp next year!" _

"You okay?" He asked and gave her a weird look.

"Y-yeah!" She laughed it off nervously.

"Weird kid."

"Hey, I just have a lot in mind, 'kay?"

"Yeah, yeah."

They kept on walking.

"Hey, why did you decide to trust this mountain training anyways?" He asked.

"So that I could get stronger."

"For what?"

"At least to beat that guy from the camp. You feel the same, right?"

"Yeah." He admitted.

"And to think that it was only a preliminary match… that means there're players stronger than him. So I want to improve and see if I could beat those guys too."

The two came back to the cave and went back to sleep.

'_Shit I didn't think of the kouhai-tachi… Mouri's going to definitely come! And he's going to notice me since we talked! Please god make him forget about me please please please please please.' _

And the night crept away with Sora's silent flails.


	5. Finally, We're Out

Chapter 5: Finally, We're Out

"Hey don't you think the training's getting easier now?" The guys chirped as they rallied on the rocky court.

"Yeah. We couldn't even rally on this court a while ago."

"Damn, I guess all that training paid off."

Sora and Kazuya were rallying; they were still stuck at maximum of 7 balls in hitting simultaneously.

"You two." He called Sora and Kazuya.

"Yes?"

"Take this." He gave a silver key to Sora and another key to Kazuya.

"Hold onto that, no questions. Now get back on court." He said and left the area, drinking alcohol out of his gourd as usual.

"Huh, what is this?"

"I don't know. We'll just have to keep it until he asks us about it again."

* * *

That evening, Mifune prepared a wild hog for the players to eat; ravenous, they gobbled down the food without much thought.

"Is this some kind of a special occasion?"

"I dunno dude but it's good!"

"I LOVE MIFUNE!"

"Why do you think he's giving this to us?" Sora wondered.

"I don't know. I guess he feels good today." Kazuya answered.

After dinner when everyone was relaxing, Mifune called up Sora and Kazuya.

"You two, I have another mission for you. Follow me with your racquets." So they followed him.

"It starts here." He said.

"You're going to sprint, as fast as you could. There're going to be balls, and you just have to hit everything that comes at you. Stop when you're out of the woods. Now, go."

They lined up, still a bit puzzled about the mission.

"Go!"

And they started sprinting.

"I see the first ball!" Kazuya shouted and it was followed by a pong.

They sprinted, sprinted, and sprinted; the balls increased in numbers as they went on.

There were 7 balls coming when the two could spot the end to the trail.

"THERE ARE 8 COMING!" Kazuya shouted and Sora tensed up.

'_I need to do this…!' _

Sora lifted her arms and hit them—all flew away after her swings.

They stopped as the trail ended and revealed two small shacks.

"Haa… haa…" the two panted heavily.

"Just… haa… who hit those balls anyways?" She asked, panting.

"They were heavy and fast."

"It was us."

A voice came from the woods and the players who trained with the two stepped out.

"You guys…!"

"Looks like you two'll be making out of this mountain first." One said.

"Yeah. Good luck."

"We'll catch up soon."

"…Thanks guys." Sora said and Tokugawa nodded. They returned to the usual campsite and the two just stood in front of the shacks.

"Hey, what do you think these shacks have inside?" Sora tried to somehow peek in.

"None of our business. Let's go."

"Wait, they have locks on them!" Sora exclaimed. She hurriedly dug for her key that Mifune gave her and tried it out. The lock unlocked with a click.

"My clothes!" She brightened as she saw her clothes that she initially wore to the camp. "There should be yours too, look for it!"

It was true; he found his.

"And that other shack should have our racquets and bags! Hurry up and open it!"

So Kazuya opened it—and inside were indeed their tennis bags—and new pairs of jerseys.

"My bags…" Sora stifled a cry and hugged her bag. Tokugawa too grabbed his bag with a satisfied face.

"It's the jerseys the guys at the camp wore." She said, holding one up.

"It's black, not white…"

"We'll just wear it anyways. Mifune gave it to us for a reason."

So they changed into the black jerseys.

"So what now?"

"I guess we head to the camp."

* * *

When they were at the same old steel gate of doom, the gate opened up immediately.

"Huh, I guess Mifune contacted them." Sora looked around, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the atmosphere again.

She was greeted by two coaches at the courts: Saitou and Kurobe.

'_Uncle!' _She brightened up and he winked at her.

"Welcome back, you two." Saitou said.

"I hope you've improved drastically after that camp. How was it?"

"Good." Tokugawa simply answered.

"We'll take you two to your room. You guys will be sharing it." Kurobe said.

"Okay. _Ah, great.' _Sora rolled her eyes secretly and Saitou just gave her a sorry glance.

They walked back into the building, down the corridor of the second floor, and gave three keys to the two once they reached a door at the end of the hall.

"The training starts 8 o'clock every morning. You'll be placed at court number 20 at first, and you can make your way up by challenging other courts. There'll be the coaches to explain to you about more details, so just get some rest first." Saitou said.

"Thank you."

They left and the two entered the room.

"Whooaaaaa…" Sora couldn't help but be awed; the room was extremely clean and big.

Tokugawa opened up the curtains and revealed all 20 courts, shone by the lamps.

"Wanna go rally."

"Huh?"

"You can hit 8… I want to see if I could too. Hit them to me." He said, getting ready on the other side.

"Here goes—"

She hit all 8 of the simultaneously and sent them flying towards Tokugawa. He took a deep breath, and swung—

_Pong pong pong pong pong pong pong pong_

He hit them—and they all went inside the court.

"YOU DID IT!" Sora exclaimed, sincerely happy for the boy. He nodded and grabbed five balls.

"Let's just rally with these."

"Alright."

Meanwhile, in the monitoring room, Saitou and Kurobe were carefully watching the two rally through one of the surveillance cameras.

"Wow." Kurobe chuckled as he sipped on his coffee.

"I knew she could do it." Saitou smiled widely and stared at the monitor.

They rallied for a long time until they couldn't hit anymore; they lied on the ground and breathed heavily.

"We could probably hit 10 balls in no time if we practice like this every day." Sora said, gasping for air.

"Yeah…" He replied, breathing heavily also. "We should come out every day."

"You bet."

The two went back into the room, wobbling from exhaustion.

"You wanna take the shower first?" Sora asked.

"Sure." He went inside and closed the door. She went to her bed and plopped down face-first. Then her eyes started slowly drooping.

A few minutes later—

"I'm done, go in." He said as he came out of the bathroom, drying his hair, with only his pants on.

"…"

"Hm?" He went over to his roommate plopped down on the bed and checked if she—or HE was sleeping. And he was.

"Hey, Shiroki. Wake up." He shook her violently.

"H-HUH!" She sat up, looking around.

"It's your turn." He said.

"O-Okay!" And she saw a man's naked body right in front of her—she immediately flushed red, and trying to hide it she ran into the bathroom.

"Weirdo." Tokugawa scoffed and shrugged his shoulder.

She closed the door behind, trying to calm herself down. Even though she's seen plenty other guys' bodies—including Tokugawa's—it was her first time seeing it up so close.

"Th-That's not good for my mind…"

* * *

The next day, her sweet dream was interrupted by a boy's voice and violent shaking.

"Whaaaat…" She crawled into her pillow more and whined.

"We have to go eat breakfast."

"It's only 6…!"

"It's _already_ 6." He corrected. "Just the right time to get breakfast and digest it before we go training. Can't have you throw up during warm-ups."

"I'll skip it…"

"You're already short. If you miss breakfast then you'll stay at that height forever." He said, dragging her blankets off. Sora shrugged, feeling chills around her body.

"Wake up."

"Fine, fine…" She slowly got off and got forcibly pushed into the bathroom courtesy of Tokugawa.

"Tokugawa?" She called him as she brushed her teeth.

"Yeah?"

"How did you grow so tall?" She asked very innocently.

"I just grew. Then why didn't you grow?"

"I don't know… _because I'm a GIRL. _Hey, I'm not that short, you know. I'm only less than a foot shorter than you."

"Still short."

"Che."

They walked over to the cafeteria together; as soon as they got there, everyone seemed to stare at them.

'_What the hell.' _Feeling a bit grumpy from waking up early in the morning, she internally grumbled inside as she grabbed a tray for the food.

They got their food and sat down together on one of the tables.

"So you guys must be the black jerseys, huh?" Someone asked.

As the two lifted their head up to look at the person, they were greeted by a brown-ivory curly haired kid with very old-fashioned glasses. And there was a scary-looking, long maroon-haired bulky dude next to him too.

"Hi, I'm Irie Kanata." He smiled.

"Oni Jyuujirou." The dude next to him introduced himself also.

"Hi, I'm Shiroki Sora."

"Tokugawa Kazuya."

"Do you mind if we sit here too?" He asked nicely.

"Not at all."

"No." The two answered. Irie and Oni sat down too and started eating.

"Are you two the only ones who were able to come back?"

"Yeah. But the others are going to catch up soon too."

"Heh~ It must be hard training up in the mountains." Irie asked with sparkling eyes.

"it was pretty hard, yeah." She replied, thinking of tricycles, hanging from trees, eagle hunts, and all sorts of bizarre training. "But it was pretty fun. What grade are you in?"

"I'm in second year." Oni answered.

"I'm in first year!" Irie answered too. "You?"

"Same here. This guy too."

"Hey, don't tell me…!" Irie gasped a little.

"Huh?"

"You two were the ones who played the number one, right? From the first court?"

"Wha…?"

"Before you guys left to the mountains, you played Byoudouin-san, right?"

"Yeah, I think that was his name." Sora answered, thinking of the weird-ass name that sounded quite familiar.

"Man, some rotten luck you guys have, to play the number one and drop out like that."

"Wait… don't tell me… _he's_ the number one?"

"You didn't know?" Irie laughed.

"He's technically number 21 because he's number 1 of the 2nd stringers." Oni explained. "But still, he's the number one of the courts here. The top 20s went away for tournaments."

"We have no idea what you're talking about." Sora blinked and Tokugawa put on a puzzled look also.

So the two kindly started explaining how things worked at the camp, about the shuffle matches, court numbering systems, 1st stringer, 2nd stringers, and so on.

Sora and Tokugawa thought, despite the looks, Oni was quite talkative once they got to know him. And Irie didn't betray his looks and was extremely kind and gentle.

"So which court are you guys on?"

"I'm in court 17. I have a team shuffle match tomorrow." Irie said.

"I'm in court number 5."

"You see, Oni-san is could've been number 5 in the first stringers but he chose to stay behind."

"Why?"

"Because 2nd stringers need to improve more. The skill difference between 1st stringers and 2nd stringers is too great." He explained. "But I will get my place back once I feel safe about this."

"I see."

* * *

**A/N: **

**worldismine: yesh yesh cuz Kazuya is just awesome. :3**

** .x: Aw thanks! :D I know just like I said before, Kazuya needs waaaay more love than this D; Thanks for the support! **

**ShamelesslyUsed: Thanks so much for regularly writing feedback! :DD I'm just glad to find another Kazuya-lover hehe :3**

**StormDarkPhoenix: Thank you for a constructive review! Ahaha, I'm glad that you find this particular one good :) I will not make Sora too OP, I swear on behalf of Kazuya. Aaha. And thanks for supporting LoR, and yesh another person who doesn't like Ahobe ahaha :3 **

**Magicgirl313: Yeah, great enthusiasm right thar! Hehe I do consider IC as the most important thing in stories like this, so keep on reading! **

**Xxdreamergirl95xX: Wow I've never had anyone beg before 8D hahaha I am having fun writing this as well so I will try to update as regularly as possible!**

**Lady Syndra: Ahahah here are the updates and thanks! :) **

**sweetchill: Oh man here's someone that actually thinks of me as top something D: I can't believe it *sniffle hahaha thanks so much for all your support, and keep on reading! :D **

**Guest: Uhhh there are two guests but 1. here are the next chapters, and 2. I guess Kazuya can't help but suspicious of Sora... but be prepared... :) **

**Jaz- 147, untainted innocence: Here it is! :DD **

**Anonymous: Ooh, good question. Mouri has been mentioned in Shin POT, and has played Atobe-Niou (ALDKJF:KYAA) pair. If you wish to do a little research on him, be my guest but I will reveal everything in the later chapters! Thanks and keep on reading! :DDD**

Please leave a review! Go ahead and use the guest/anonymous review option if you wish to but just leave a feedback please! :) Thanks all ya supporters, and love you all :)

-ScherzoVivace (I kinda wanna change my pen name D: what do you guys think?)


	6. Pretty Face

Of Tennis and Ice Prince

Chapter 6: Pretty Face

The two came back after the breakfast, got dressed, and went out to the courts. Their black jerseys stood out in masses of whites, so everyone stared at them in an amusing way.

"So you two are the new players Coach Saitou told me about." A man who seemed to be the head trainer walked up to them and said.

"Yes."

"I'll have to have some data collected for both of you. Follow me."

The two followed him inside a building, where there were all sorts of technological equipment.

"First you'll jog for 10 minutes at a fast pace." He explained as the workers there put little detectors on their bodies. "It's measure your heart beat and blood pressure level."

They went through many tests such as lifting weights, agility, reflex, flexibility, mental, and all sorts of weird science-y things.

"The final one is playing a real match." The trainer explained as they walked down the courts. "Oni! Ochi!" He called the two up.

"Ochi, you'll be playing this guy, Shiroki Sora. And Oni, you'll be playing Tokugawa." The trainer said. "Just play a one-set match, with ads. No warm-ups." He said.

Sora and Kazuya grabbed their racquets and each walked to their respective courts.

* * *

"Arara… Machoke-san is cruel as always!" Saitou laughed a little. Yes, he gave the nickname machoke to the bulky, muscular coach. But he didn't call him that when he was around, of course.

"Playing against a type of player that they have a disadvantage against…!" Kurobe amusingly exclaimed. The two coaches sat out on the balcony and observed the two revolutionary players.

Kurobe examined the two's pentagon analysis—

"Hm… I guess it's a bit clear from last time but it still looks weird." He cocked his eyebrows at three different types of pentagon, all pointing out in different direction.

"Hey, two of them are off-chart." Kurobe said.

"Which ones?" Saitou asked, slightly surprised.

"All areas except power are off-chart… but there are three different sets of data." He said. "Haa, it's really hard to analyze this girl."

"Then what about Tokugawa-kun?"

"His mental, stamina, technique is superb. All three 4.5 out of 5. And the other two aren't bad as well, they're both 3 out of 5."

"But from data it seems that Tokugawa is a counter puncher and Shiroki is an all-rounder. It looks like her ability to focus and her techniques are off-chart. However… power, it's average. 2.5 out of 5. Although it's impressive since she's a girl."

"And she's playing Ochi-kun. Man, that's tough." He scratched his head. "A former Hyotei captain… I've seen his skills. It's deadly."

"Well in terms of mentality the two are equal, if she could keep that style consistent. Saitou, I think the best thing for her is to learn how to make all those traits coexistent in one style. If she could just merge the three sets of data into one… then she'll be one hell of a player." He said.

"Yeah. Then she needs to work harder than anyone."

* * *

"WOWWWW." She stared up, literally _up_ at the sky to see this guy's face. He was 30 centimeters or so taller than her. His greysh-white hair was highlighted with bits of red on the front and had a long bang that covered his eyes.

"Let's have a good match." He quietly said and put his hands out. They shook hands and walked to their court. It was the guy's serve first.

Meanwhile, on Tokugawa's court, the game began as well. Everyone who were not practicing came over and watched this exciting match.

Ochi tossed the ball up—and without much effort he served. Due to his ridiculously tall physique the ball bounced straight onto the ground, its bound almost passing Sora's shoulder height.

"Whoa!" She exclaimed because of an amazingly tall shot. He took the first point like that—with a service ace. "MAN I HATE BEING SHORT!"

Thinking of how to receive such ridiculous serve she got ready at the baseline again, anticipating the next ball. He tossed it up—and served.

She ran forward,

"What's she doing?" Players murmured.

"Ho…" Kurobe curiously and amusingly rubbed his chin.

She ran forward, almost up to the service box, and dropped her racquet. As soon as the ball bounced it came in contact with her gut. She swung fast, drawing an arc around her, and the ball flew right towards the corner, just out of Ochi's reach.

He stood there and stared at the spot where the ball had landed, then at the guy (girl) in front of him who just returned his tall serve with that little height of his.

"Oooh." The spectators ooh'd, impressed by her return.

"Nice rising shot." Kurobe smiled.

"It's always been a specialty for her." Saitou laughed, thinking of times when she played boys taller than her.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Oni was, for some reason, playing with a racquet that had only two strings: one vertical, one across. Surprisingly he was hitting every ball powerfully with it; he pushed and pushed so that he didn't give any room for Tokugawa to play his mental tactics.

"Those two are having a tough time." Saitou laughed smugly.

"Pretty talented for first years to go against those two like that, though." Kurobe sipped on his coffee and said.

"They are talented indeed."

As Sora was switching the side, with a score of 2-3 with Ochi in the lead, he stared at her and made an eye contact for the first time.

"Uh-oh. Ochi-kun just gave her his special stare." Saitou leaned into the screen, wondering how Sora will react to the mental-assassin's mind-closing look.

Sora felt chills down her back. _'S-Scary.' _She shuddered and walked to the baseline to serve.

Ochi just stood there as he was not expecting her to make the serve.

'_What the hell, is he thinking that I'm gonna make a double fault or something.' _She frowned as she tossed the ball up in the air.

'_Then I'll bring out my special serve!' _She jumped, changing the grip of her racquet a little.

Ochi just stood there even when she was tossing the ball up—the next thing he noticed was a swoosh passing his cheek.

'_Wh-What?' _He was taken aback, staring at the rolling ball behind him.

"Hey, are you sure you're ready?" She yelled from the other side. He retrieved the ball and hit it back to her, surprised that she was able to overcome his mental pressure.

"Her serve was in…!" Kurobe exclaimed. "H-How…!"

"Well, in one of her data sets her mental was 6.5 out of 5. Now she just needs to keep that up without losing her stamina which is only 3 out of 5 in this set of data."

She was rallying smoothly with this tall guy, but felt her breath running quickly too fast.

"I'm not done yet though...!"

* * *

After an hour, she was on the ground, huffing and puffing, with a score of 4-6. She had lost. That guy was good. Really good.

She got up and walked over to the net to exchange handshakes.

"Good game." He said, putting his hand out; he broke a sweat too and thought that it had been a while since a newcomer entertained him this much.

The same occurred at Tokugawa's court too. He lost, with a score of 6-2. That Oni guy was just a plain monster, like his name stated.

"You guys must be tired. Go ahead and call it a day, and you'll start your official training tomorrow." The coach said as they put away their racquets.

"Yes sir." They bowed and left.

As soon as they entered their room they collapsed on their beds.

"Hey, Shiro-" Tokugawa froze; Sora had fallen asleep in a matter of a second.

Tokugawa stared at her face while she slept peacefully.

_'He has a really pretty face for a guy.' _Tokugawa thought. _'Almost like a girl.'_ Then she suddenly sat up, surprising him.

"You! You always give me all the stupid troubles!" She pointed at him and said, her tongue twisting like a drunk person. Then she collapsed onto the bed again, going back to sleep.

_'I-It was just a sleep-talk.' _Tokugawa sweated, thinking that Sora had a really weird sleeping habit.

* * *

Tokugawa woke up feeling surprisingly warm.

_'That was a good night's sle-hm?' _He feld something fluffy on his shoulder. He turned around, his neck creaking-and found _him_.

"?##$*(!" He couldn't move or else he'd wake him up, but he was startled as heck. Sora's arm was wrapping around Tokugawa's naked top and a leg on top of his.

_'YOU are the one giving me all the trouble...!'_

* * *

__**PLESE PLEASE PLEASE check out my new story, Life's A Bird's Eye! If you like Niou's smexy bed scene, please visit and leave a review!**


	7. Well So Much for A Big Secret

Of Tennis and Ice Prince

Chapter 7: Well So Much for A Big Secret

"Oi, Shiroki! Wake up!"

"Hm… Huh?" She woke up and found her on a strangely weird location in the room. From what she remembered, Tokugawa's bed was supposed to be to the right side of her, not the left.

Then she started dripping sweat. _'Uh-oh. Did I sleep walk?' _

"Jeesh, Tokugawa! Sorry for sleeping over, hahaha!" She laughed it off and Tokugawa just sighed. "Just get up already."

"Alright."

That day they were assigned to the same court to practice; they trained really fiercely from morning till afternoon.

Tokugawa couldn't find his roommate, Shiroki, after he was done with the practice.

"Hey, do you know where Shiroki went to?" He asked one of the people who trained with them that day.

"Uh, yeah. I think she was heading over to the storage side."

"_Storage…? _Alright, thanks." Curious, he jogged over to the storage area, which was couple yards away from the main building.

He spotted him and the mental Coach, Saitou.

"Are you having any problems?" He asked. Tokugawa, for some reason, hid behind one of the bushes and eavesdropped on them.

"Nope, not really." She clasped her hands on the back of her head and answered.

"Still, you're a girl. You have to be careful at all times, especially when you play matches with the upper court players."

'_A GIRL!?' _Tokugawa yelled in his mind. He perked up his ears more to confirm if he hadn't heard it wrong.

"During your monthly cycle, always come find me at my office okay? Don't go to the infirmary either, just come straight to my office. Your friend was kind enough to send me things you'll need."

"Yui did! Yay, I better call her!" She exclaimed and giggled; Tokugawa was not believing this. He—no, she—sounded pretty feminine compared to when she was with him.

'_But why is she here?!' _

"Hey uncle, I think that guy I played yesterday was really good. Is he a 2nd year or a 3rd year?"

"He's a second year."

"Daaaaamn. Well, I guess I have more room for improvement!" She grinned.

"So, what Kurobe and I have been noticing is that… you don't have a distinct play style."

"Yeah, I'm aware. But I'm doing fine, right?"

"Well… It won't be as "fine" when you come across stronger all-rounder players. When we took your data, you had three _different_ data sets, all with different statistics. Sora, you _have_ to learn to merge all those play styles into one. Every area except for power has a chance of being off-chart."

"WHAT?! REALLY!?" She exclaimed. "HOLY MOLY I WAS THAT GOOD!"

"Yes." He chuckled and petted her head. "So ask yourself, 'how can I be an all-rounder?' and train more."

"Alright! Thanks Itaru-ji-chan!"

'_Ji-chan?! He's her uncle?!' _Tokugawa was getting more and more bewildered. This guy—er, girl—was veiled in mystery.

"Do you think you could come back to this camp next year too?"

"As long as I don't get found out… But don't worry, no one knows!" She grinned relaxingly, her teeth showing.

'_I do now…' _

"Uncle, I want to become better. I noticed after playing that Hou-san and Telephone-pole san that I still have ways to go." She said with determined eyes and seriousness; Saitou snickered a little at the funny nicknames Sora gave to number one and Ochi.

Tokugawa's heart jumped a little. _'He—er, she could be that serious?' _

"Since I came here to improve, I don't intend leaving any soon."

"That's my girl. How's your roommate treating you?"

Tokugawa flinched a little, paying closer attention.

"Well, he's really… Hm…"

'_Really what?' _

"He's really mature and not much talk. And he gives me all sorts of troubles!"

Tokugawa sighed. Of course, he didn't expect any overly positive feedback.

"But he's a cool guy. Nice, too. I like him! He's good at tennis too." She said, laughing nonchalantly.

'_She likes me…' _Getting overly conscious at the word "like," Tokugawa blushed a little.

"That's good! Now then, let's get going." He turned around, surprising Tokugawa. He quickly ducked, avoiding to be seen. After he saw the two walk away, he stood up and sighed.

"Phew… _Now, just what am I gonna do with this girl…"_

Tokugawa opened the door to the room and Sora was taking her jacket off. He flinched and covered his eyes unconsciously.

"What the hell are you doing?" She gave him a weird look. She was just taking her jacket off.

"N-Nothing."

She stared at him and he avoided eye contact. She raised her hand towards his head.

"There's a leaf… on your head." She tiptoed, picked out a leaf from his head and said. "How'd it get up there?"

"Huh. I-I guess it fell from a tree."

"Well, go ahead take a shower first, I'm gonna take a long time."

"Okay." He creaked over to the bathroom and closed the door. He did _not_ know how to treat a girl.

He immersed himself in cold water and thought about just what he was going to do with her. Is he going to exploit it? Or is he going to keep it a secret?

'_Well, she seems serious about tennis, so I guess there's no point in really trying to kick her out.' _He thought while he got dressed.

When he got out Sora went in; he sat down on the bed and thought.

After a while the bedside was drenched wet. _'Ah, I need a towel.' _He thought, remembering that he couldn't get a towel. He opened the door unconsciously and found a naked back;

"Hm?" Sora turned around, too surprised to yell or scream.

"I need a towel."

He quickly took the towel and closed the door.

'_HOLY SHIT ASDF:K! THAT STUPID TOKUGAWA ALWAYS GIVING ME TROUBLES!' _

Tokugawa dried his hair—and felt his cheek heat up to the sun's degree.

'_I keep on forgetting…!' _

Sora came out, as if nothing happened. She needed to act well.

"Oi, Tokugawa, let's go eat."

"A-Ah."

"Hey, Tokugawa?" As they lied down on their beds Sora called him. After he realized that Sora wasn't a guy, he wore a t-shirt to sleep.

"I think I'm going to challenge someone from the third court tomorrow."

"…Okay. I guess I'll do it too, then."

"Really?" She shot up, happy that her only buddy was willing to come along. "Thanks!"

"N-No problem."

Sora couldn't get any sleep; what her uncle said about her play style bothered her.

'_How do I "merge" my play styles into one… how do I do that…?' _She thought hard, squirming around on her bed. _'Agggh, I can't sleep!' _She shot up, got out of bed, and changed.

'_Where's she going?' _Tokugawa, who wasn't sleeping at all either, noticed that his roommate was getting ready to leave.

After she shut the door he got up and changed also. Maybe she wanted to hit a little since she took out her tennis bag.

Sora was rallying against the wall, repeating that her uncle said in her mind.

'_I don't know…!' _She got frustrated and swung hard, taking out another ball, thus hitting 3 at a time.

"Can't sleep?" Someone said from behind; she turned around and found Tokugawa.

"Why aren't you sleeping, it's already 12!"

"I couldn't sleep, so I just thought I should hit a little. Wanna go rally?"

"I guess it's better than hitting the wall."

When they were rallying she constantly tried to stay consistent with all of her areas; volleys, serves, forehands, backhands, spins… she massively concentrated on all of her shots.

When Tokugawa saw her eyes, he felt a sudden chill. He felt cold and he started sweating. He saw some sort of a frightening existence in her; it was as if his body was frozen, his every sensory shut down. He was afraid to hit the ball again.

"Oi, Tokugawa! Are you alright?" She yelled from the other side as she realized he wasn't hitting quite well.

"Y-Yeah. _What was that…?' _

The two came back; Sora lied down on the bed and lifted her hand to gaze at it. She realized something queer too—she felt like she might have picked up her style.

The next day she went up to the coach with Tokugawa.

"Coach. I'd like to challenge someone from court number 3."

"So do I."

"Alright. I'll randomly draw a player and have them come over to court number 10 and 11. Get ready."

"Hey, you better win, okay?" Sora nudged Tokugawa and said.

"I always win."

"Eehhh~ Okay. Then I'll see you after the match."

"Alright… Good luck." He said. Sora just blinked, surprised that Tokugawa just said, "good luck."

"Good luck to you too!" She smiled and hopped away to the other court. Tokugawa covered his face with a towel to hide his blush.

"So you're the one who challenged!" A tall guy said, walking up to the net.

"Yup! Let's have a good match!"

Sora actually wanted to test out her new play style again. See if she could frighten and freeze the opponent like Tokugawa.

The rally began; the opponent was just adequate enough to rally with Sora. She then focused on every single ball, pinpointing, calculating the guy's unfavorable spots.

'_Damn, he's good!' _The opponent thought; then, when he stared at Sora, he felt chills go down his spine. Every shot he took, he felt like he couldn't stop shivering and at every ball that came—he was afraid. He could hear everything so well, including shouts from the very opposite court, and felt like everything was moving too fast.

Everyone who gathered around all whispered;

"Did you see that?"

"That guy's not moving well, he's shivering!"

"Shiroki Sora! 6-0!"

Tokugawa was staring at her in disbelief; she completely seized the guy and made him virtually impossible to continue playing at the first few games.

"This is interesting…!" Kurobe exclaimed as he scrolled through the updated set of data on Sora. "Now she only has two sets of data…! One which is 6 out of 5 in mental, technique, speed and other which is 6 out of 5 in stamina and 4 out of 5 in power…"

"She's made some progress."

"Yes. And I'm getting the feedback from her opponent… here's what he's saying: "I couldn't move, my body shivered gradually, everything started to speed up, and I could hear too vividly to an inhuman extent…" How interesting."

"That sounds just like…"

"Yips. But I don't think this is exactly yips. All his senses were _heightened,_ not shut down. Very, very odd… never encountered anything like this."

"…Sora, just what have you done…!"


	8. Tokugawa is is

Of Tennis and Ice Prince

Chapter 8: Tokugawa is... is...

"Haaa… I feel really tired for some reason…" Sora mumbled as she walked along the corridor with Tokugawa. Ever since she found out that she somehow obtained a "new play style," her body's been feeling extra tired.

"Are you okay?" Tokugawa noticed that Sora was less cheery than usual; when she was quiet, there was something wrong.

"I don't know… I feel really tired for some reason… I didn't even do that much yesterday either…"

"I guess it's you're just having a bad day then. Playing tennis will get you better." He simply said and Sora nodded.

"I hope so."

"Oi, Shiroki, someone challenged your court. You're name was drawn." The coach said. Sora nodded and moved over to the court they were going to play a game at.

Sora began playing in the same manner as the day before; she was able to figure out what kind of effects she had on the other player.

"I-I can't do this…!" The boy slumped down and shivered in fear. His eyes were moving fast a bit too abnormally. The faculties had to come and escort him to the infirmary.

Sora—who had won the match by default—walked over to the bench where Tokugawa was waiting for her.

"That was a nice game. Your play style changed a lot more powerful." He commented.

"Yeah. I think I'm getting the hang of it."

* * *

"Uh-oh." Kurobe mumbled as he scrolled through his laptop.

"What's wrong?" Saitou came over and asked.

"Your niece… her body might break at this point."

"WHAT?!"

"Her skill requires four out of five areas, all in which need to be off-chart." Kurobe presented a page of information to Saitou. "If it's a normal boy, the body might hold, but… she's a girl. Her body's not yet strong enough to use this kind of skill for more than thirty minutes."

"…Oh no."

* * *

That evening—

"Haa… haa…" Sora ran out of breath only as she was walking up the stairs with Tokugawa. They had eaten dinner and was going back to the room to relax, but Sora didn't eat that much; she didn't feel like it.

'_Wh-What's this… sweat?' _She wiped her forehead and found her hand wet. Tokugawa continued going up the stairs and realized that his roommate had stopped mid-way, slouching in an awkward position.

"Shiroki, you all right?" He came down a few steps and asked.

Then Sora's head spun and she felt like the whole world was being distorted.

"Shiroki!" Tokugawa yelled as Sora slouched forward onto his body. "Shiroki, wake up!" He lifted her head up to see her face, and noticed that she was only sleeping.

'_Jeesh, scaring me like this…' _He scoffed but nonetheless piggy-backed Sora. _'She's really light…'_

He piggy-backed her and tried to head upstairs, until—

"Tokugawa-kun!" Saitou urgently called him and ran upstairs. "S-S-Sora!" He panicked as he spotted his niece on this guy's back, totally knocked out.

"He's just sleeping." Tokugawa assured and Saitou sighed in relief. "He's been complaining that he was tired since this morning."

"Yes… Sora's body's not as strong as other boys'. If he uses this skill this much, his body's bound to break." He explained. "His skill isn't something ordinary people can pull off. He might use it little bits at a time, but utilizing this as his own play style is going to destroy his body."

"I see."

"Then return to your room, and please keep a good eye on Sora." Saitou smiled and Tokugawa nodded.

He returned to his room and put her down on the bed; she was sweating heavily, and when he checked her forehead, her head was burning. Then suddenly a naughty thought crossed Tokugawa's mind.

'_She's sweating… should I wipe it off? If she has a fever then she's supposed to take her clothes off and let her body cool. If not I should at least get her changed into comfortable clothes.' _He glanced at her face—and blushed madly.

'_No, no, no, what are you thinking?! She's a girl, for god's sake! And plus she's sick!' _Tokugawa shook his head. _'But she really is sweating a lot…!' _

Tokugawa finally made up his mind—

'_I'll at least wipe off the sweat on her body and put some cold towel.' _

He went to the bathroom. He grabbed a bucket and some ice from the fridge, put some water, and wet the towel. He went over to her bed and started wiping off the sweat on her arm and neck.

'_She has really long eyelashes…' _He thought as he examined her face. _'Her nose is cute and tiny, and her lips look really… kissable.' _He stopped—then blushed madly. He never, ever thought of a girl in this kind of fashion; they were always considered invisible to him.

'_Calm down, Tokugawa… she's a guy for now. She's a guy for now. It's a he, not she, so don't go on thinking about naughty stuff.'_

"…" He then again stared at her, his heart beating faster and faster every minute.

"W-Water…" Sora, who was unconscious from fever, mumbled. Tokugawa hurriedly got a water bottle and put it to her lips, but the water just poured off to the side.

'_I guess I have no choice.' _He sighed. He took the water bottle, took a big gulp—and brought his lips to hers and emptied his mouth. Sora drank, and Tokugawa took another big gulp and fed it mouth-to-mouth. Finally satisfied, Sora sighed and continued sleeping.

Tokugawa, after putting the bottle down, blushed madly, so red that he looked like he was the one running on a high fever.

'_Th-that was my first kiss… I wonder if that's… Shiroki's first kiss too.' _He then began sweating. This was his big secret that he was going to take to his grave. If it really was Shiroki's first kiss, then he would be killed in no time.

But then he thought that she was like no ordinary girls whose interests were only about boys, clothes, and celebrities and whatnot. She tried really hard to improve in tennis and she was good at it too.

"Get well, Shiroki."

* * *

"Ugh…" Sora groaned and woke up, clutching her head.

"Are you awake?" Tokugawa's voice came from the side; when she turned her head to her right, he was sitting on a chair next to the bed.

"Tokugawa…!" She looked around. "Wh-Where…"

"You sort of fainted on the staircase. You were running on fever last night."

"I fainted?!" Sora exclaimed. "Why!?"

"Your uncle told me that your play style right now just wears out your body. He said to stop using it." He explained.

"What do you mean, wears it out? I'm completely fine!"

"Shiroki, you _fainted_. On top of that you ran on a high fever all last night." Tokugawa tried to convince her.

"That's just because I was working too much! I'm not going to stop using my play style, it's powerful!" Her voice raised higher.

"Shiroki, your body's going to break at this rate." Tokugawa frowned and said. "Just listen to your uncle. You can find a new play style."

"No!" She shouted. "I'm going to use this, and this is the play style that I found on my own after ten years!"

"I told you, something worse is going to happen to your body!" Tokugawa shouted back. "Besides, what's so good about a play style that just ends up hurting the opponent!?"

Sora gasped and paused. A 'uh-oh' and 'oh shit' crossed Tokugawa's mind, making him regret saying that. He gulped—and tears brimmed around Sora's eyes.

"But… But…!" She started sniffling. Tokugawa freaked out and started fidgeting. He was not good with girls, especially when they were crying.

"At this rate I'm just going to be a guy who's not even good at tennis…!" She sniffled. "Waaaah!"

She finally broke out sobbing. Tokugawa flinched and moved his hand busily to somehow figure out a way to use them in comforting her.

"I-It's okay, don't worry." Tokugawa managed to say but Sora kept on crying. He gulped and took a brave action by hugging her.

Sora hugged back, clenching onto his shoulders a bit hard while crying her head off, but Tokugawa pat her back and head and whatnot, trying to calm her down.

"There, there. W-We could find an alternative, so stop crying." He said. It actually hurt him too hearing that Sora wouldn't be able to play with a play style that she was so excited about. And he knew how much she's been trying; seeing her like this made him weak.

Sora finally calmed down, hiccupping a little. Tokugawa brought themselves apart and rubbed away the tears on her cheeks and smiled.

"Did you calm down a bit?" He asked, smiling. Sora just stared into his face, dumbfounded by a smile that she's never, ever seen before. Heck, she didn't see him smile at all for the past few weeks.

Then she realized how close they were—and blushed. And seeing her reaction, Tokugawa realized it as well, so they hurriedly brought themselves apart and started coughing awkwardly.

"Th-Thank you for last night." Sora thanked.

"N-No problem."

Then silence filled between the two. Sora was thinking; do guys usually show this much care to other guys? Do they stay up all night and console each other by an intimate hug?

'_Wait… but hugging… Then!' _She gasped inside. _'H-H-H-H-He's a h-h-h-ho-ho-HOMO!?' _

"What." He found her staring at him intently and said.

"N-Nothing! Wait! Aren't we late to practice?!" She hurried out of bed but Tokugawa just pushed her shoulders back down.

"It's Saturday." He said, and Sora just ooh'd. "So get some sleep, you still have some fever. I'm going to the infirmary to get you some medicine." He said and stood up.

"W-Wait." Sora grabbed his sleeve. "…I don't need medicine." She mumbled quietly.

"What?"

"I said, I don't any need medicine. So stay here, I don't want to be alone." She pouted and said. Tokugawa gulped; he couldn't help but think she was absolutely cute that moment.

"I guess I have no choice." Tokugawa sighed and sat back down on the chair. Sora made sure he was there, snuggled up to her blankets, and once again fell into a deep sleep.


	9. Don't Cry

Of Tennis and Ice Prince

Chapter 9: Don't Cry

After getting a good rest for the whole day, Sora was able to recover up to her top shape and continue training. What she was bothered by was the fact that she'd get enervated too quickly whenever she used her new play style.

Feeling anxious and frustrated, Sora went to visit her uncle and Coach Kurobe.

"Itaru ji-chan." Sora came into his office with a very discontented, pouting face. "Hello, Coach Kurobe." She bowed to the two and said.

"Aah, Sora." He greeted her and gestured for her to sit on the couch with him. Kurobe sat down with him, already anticipating what she was going to talk about.

She sat down, still pouting.

"You know what I'm going to talk about, right?" She asked straightforwardly, and the two nodded.

"But Sora, it really is a big matter." Saitou said and Kurobe nodded as well.

"Yes. For you, Shiroki-kun, the play style you want to use isn't a very good alternative." Kurobe then pulled out his laptop and showed her charts, graphs, and data. "Your play style is very strong indeed. But look," he pointed to one of the charts, "you need four areas to be off-chart in order to use this. And if your body capacity is 100, the play style will require double of that."

"But this is what I can play well with, and I want to play like this. It suits how I want to play perfectly." She retorted, frowning. "Is there a way I could increase my capacity then?"

"I believe it will be hard," Kurobe said.

"Yes. Your body's already at a maximum capacity for a girl." Saitou added. Sora just stayed there—and started tearing up.

'_Wagh!' _The two (single, therefore no experience in children or female) freaked out as Sora become more and more on the verge of crying.

"S-S-Sora, don't cry!" Saitou fumbled around and said. "W-We could find a way for you!"

"Y-Yes." Kurobe, who was usually very composed, stuttered and agreed as well.

At that Sora stopped sniffling and started hiccupping. "R-Really?"

"Yes."

"Then how can I do it?"

The two seemed deep in thought. "Well, you could start by having extra practices." Kurobe first spoke. "I'll leave the gyms open for your usage. Train to increase your body capabilities."

"And mental training would help too." Saitou added also. "Come visit me after your practice for an hour long session."

"Alright. Then I'll add about two more hours of practice." She clenched her fists and said determinedly. "Thank you, Coach Kurobe and Itaru ji-chan." She stood up. "I better go start right now!"

She dashed out of the room and the two coaches sighed.

"Huhuhu, quite the handful, isn't she?" Kurobe chuckled.

"Yeah…" Saitou laughed nervously and answered. "But I know she'll do well."

* * *

"Where're you going?!" Tokugawa freaked out. "You just got out of bed today!"

"I need to go train at the gym." Sora said as she tied her shoelaces.

"What?" He continued freaking out. "In that shape? You're going to faint again!"

"No I won't, don't worry." She rolled her eyes. "I know my body well enough. Then, I'll be going!" She hurriedly dashed out of the room, leaving bewildered and worried Tokugawa behind.

"That girl…!" He sighed and headed towards the doorstep as well. When he headed towards the gym, she was carefully reading a paper then heading over to the muscle training station.

"Tokugawa!" She noticed him. "What are you doing here!"

"It'd be a hassle if you pass out again." He said and sighed. He took off his jacket and walked over to one of the muscle training stations.

"Gee, thanks Tokugawa! You're a good guy!" She slapped his back and walked away, laughing.

'_Ow… looks like you don't really need to train your arm. Jeesh, try to consider me who's worried to death about you!' _He scoffed in his mind—but then realized: why was he worried to death about her?

'_If I don't, then who else will?' _

So the two began working out. Tokugawa glanced at her piece of paper and noticed that it had all the statistics of what she lacked.

'_Working hard, huh…?' _His lips formed a light smile as he watched Sora lift dumbbells.

"How come the gym's open this late though? Did your uncle give you the permission?" He asked.

"Yup! Itaru ji-chan said I could have a mental training session with him too and—" she suddenly stopped and made a confused face.

"Hm?"

"Hey… wait a minute." She looked at him suspiciously. "How did you know he was my uncle?"

'_Ulp. I forgot!' _Tokugawa freaked out inside. "U-Um…"

Sora stared at him, demanding an answer.

"You told me!" He blurted out. "Remember? You said, "Itaru ji-chan's the greatest mental coach!" after having that one session with him."

"Huh. Did I…?" She pondered.

"How else would I know?" He scoffed, although his inside was sweating crazily.

"I see." She shrugged her shoulders and moved onto the next training station.

Tokugawa sighed big-time in relief. _'I need to watch myself a bit more.'_

So after an hour of training, it became 10 o'clock. Sora, who was down to the final area of what she needed to work on, cocked her head and squinted her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"It says I need to improve my balance, but…" She trailed off. "Balance… how do I train that?"

"I think I have an idea. Follow me."

Tokugawa lead Sora to an empty room with a wooden floor. The room almost resembled a dance room.

"What are we going to do here?" Sora looked around.

"Watch me." Tokugawa stretched out a bit—and pushed himself upright, getting into a nice, straight handstand position. Then he took off one hand from the floor.

"WHOOOOAAA!" Sora exclaimed. "THAT'S HELLA SICK! Teach me, teach me!" She jumped up and down and said. Tokugawa stood up.

"Then first practice it on the wall."

"I could do that, I use to do it all the time as a kid!" She kicked off the floor and leaned her back on the wall. "See?"

"Then, try doing it without it. I'll hold your legs."

So Sora got off the wall and stood on the floor with no walls near her. She kicked, then got upright, and Tokugawa caught her legs mid air.

"Are you in balance?"

"I don't know."

"I'm going to let you go."

"Wha, wait, not ye—" Tokugawa let her go and she panicked. Then due to flailing and wailing her body started leaning forward towards her back.

"I'm falling!"

Sora clenched her eyes. But Tokugawa was able to cradle her body from hitting the floor just in time. Except, his arms were supporting her thighs and her back—in a bridal style.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah!" Sora laughed it off. Her heart was beating crazily fast. She felt his supportive, strong arms, his strongly-built torso, and for some reason, he smelled really good for a guy who was sweating. _'Calm down… calm down…'_

"Let's start again. And this time, don't you _dare_ panic. I'm not going to catch you fall."

"Yessir."

A few days passed and Sora constantly worked to increase her body capacity. Tokugawa worked out with her too, feeling insecure about having her alone at night.

"Do you think you can handle the play style now?" Tokugawa said as they ate breakfast after a 3-mile jog.

"Hm… I don't know. I really don't feel any difference." She said, getting a bit depressed.

"I-I'm sure it did. You worked hard."

"I hope so too."

"Maybe I'll challenge up to court 2 and try it out." She said. "Hey, you should challenge up with me!" She exclaimed. Tokugawa indulged into a thought. He was thinking of challenging into a higher court. And plus, he now felt like he wouldn't be able to feel secure without having Sora around him.

"I guess."

"Alright!"


	10. Success

Of Tennis and Ice Prince

Chapter 10: Success

"Coach, I'd like to challenge court 2." Sora said.

"Me too." Tokugawa said also.

"Very well. Court 2! You have challengers!" The Coach yelled and court number 2 soon set up for a challenge match.

"Hey." Tokugawa called Sora who was a bit nervous. "You'll do fine. You trained hard right?"

"Yeah. Thanks!" She smiled brightly and skipped over to the court.

Tokugawa was just glad that he got to see her smile. He headed onto the court also.

There was a bit of a problem; Tokugawa ended up with a ridiculously weak opponent while Sora ended up with a ridiculously strong opponent.

Tokugawa finished his match quickly enough to be able to watch Sora's matches;

The score was 3-all.

'…_Shiroki's still figuring out how to pull out her skills.' _Tokugawa observed.

"What do you think, Saito?" Kurobe asked, sipping on his coffee.

"Hm… Indeed, Sora's still observing the opponent for now." He said, rubbing his chin. "But I'm pretty sure she's hiding something big."

"I look forward to it." Kurobe said.

"The thing to call attention to is that rather than brute-force, Sora uses wits and speed to get around the court; for example, fooling the opponent's eyes."

"Ah-hah…"

Sora finally hit a shot the way she practiced;

The opponent completely missed the swing and the ball dropped.

"Wh-What?!"

And he started missing a shot after another.

"What's he doing?" People murmured.

"This is rather intriguing." Kurobe said.

"This… from a mental standpoint, as soon as the opponent falls into the trap then the trauma stacks up higher and higher—as if he's being buried in a sandpit."

"That's certainly one aspect—but what's the logic behind this shot?" Kurobe played the tape. "Hm…" he observed Sora and her shots for a while.

"…Interesting."

"What is it?"

* * *

"6-3, game set and match, Shiroki Sora! She will move onto court number 2!"

Sora walked back to the bench and drank some water.

"Good job." Tokugawa handed her a towel.

"Thanks." She said.

"How'd you do that? I've always been wondering; I didn't think it was a skill. I always believed that it was my own mistake because you only used it time to time." Tokugawa asked.

"Well… basically I'm fooling the opponent's eyes." She said. "In a fast rally, when I want to hit this shot, I swing just as fast as I was doing before but actually put less power and more spin on the ball; that way, the opponent will think I'm hitting a fast ball—but I'm actually not. Plus, I put a southpaw, kick spin on it so it's harder to predict the trajectory."

"Wow…" Tokugawa let out. "I-I mean. That's pretty impressive." He cleared his throat in embarrassment at "wowing" at Sora.

"Hehe. Thanks. But it's a problem when the opponent is instinctively going for the ball only; usually players unknowingly react to the opponent's swings, not the ball. But if there's someone who doesn't care about what I do, just what I hit—then there's a problem."

"But that's not the only thing you can do right? You used to be able to make opponents freeze up and all."

"Haha, yup. But I think I'll refrain from using that too much. It's too much of a mental trauma."

"Quite impressive." Kurobe said, giving a approving nod. "Actually, very impressive."

"I knew she'd do it." Saito said.

"She's understanding the science and basics behind tennis; I would like to credit her for that."

* * *

"_Hey Shiroki, wanna go to the bath?" Tokugawa asked after a good workout at the gym. _

"_Huh? Sure." She said and walked over to the bath area—Tokugawa first took off his clothes and went ahead in the bath._

"_W-Wait a minute." Tokugawa paused. _'She's a girl!'

_Tokugawa turned back abruptly, trying to prevent her from coming in—_

"_WAAAAGGH!" He yelped as he saw Shiroki—in a perfectly healthy boy's body. _

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" He yelped.

"JESUS CHRIST! Tokugawa, are you okay?!" Sora, who was scared to death by waking up to him screaming, asked Tokugawa. And oops, she slept on the same bed again.

Tokugawa panted, looked at Sora, and suddenly rushed into the bathroom.

"This… this is…!" Tokugawa shivered in horror. _'She's a girl! She's a girl! That was all just a bad dream!' _He thought to himself._ 'Or… is she… really…?!' _ He turned towards the main room.

'_Then… that means…! Gah! I am sexually confused now! I-I'm not interested in men! Wait, I'm not interested in her!' _He shook his head violently and thought. _'I-I mean, I am interested in her, but not to that poin—WHAT AM I THINKING!?' _

Tokugawa just stopped everything. He closed his eyes, let out a long breath, and walked back into the main bedroom.

"You okay?" Sora asked, a bit worried.

"I just had a really bad dream."

"Oh man, that must suck. Bad dreams are a real bitch." Sora frowned and pat him on the shoulder.

"Shiroki." Tokugawa said.

"Hm?"

"Wanna go take a bath at the sauna hall?" He asked. Sora paused and her face immediately heated up bright red.

"N-N-N-N-NO!" She said. "I-I'M FINE! I-I TAKE FREQUENT SHOWERS, S-SO I DON'T NEED ANY BATHS!" She yelled and ran out of the room.

"…" Tokugawa just stared at the door in which she slammed shut. "That was definitely a dream." He sighed in relief by her reaction.

The players were on their breaks in a weekend's afternoon;

'_Where's Shiroki? She should usually be around here. Now that I think of it, she started to not visit this place as much.' _Tokugawa wondered as he browsed through the dining halls. Normally, he'd find her snacking on something while reading or watching something.

He went around the facility, hoping he'd run into Sora (just because, not for a reason; or at least that what he wants to think).

"Eat up, Mr. Duck!"

Tokugawa heard a familiar voice behind the bushes.

"Hm?" He peeped over the bush and found Sora cradling a duck.

"Ah, Tokugawa!" She noticed him. "This is Mr. Duck! I found him injured so I cured his leg!" She showed the duck cradled in her arms.

She held out the duck to his face;

"Quack."

"Th-That's nice of you." He said. "So… uh… what exactly are you doing?"

"I'm just looking after him! He comes to this place every time I have breaks, so I feed him something and put ointment on his leg." She said, pointing at a white bandaged tied into a ribbon. "He likes me a lot."

"…I see."

"It's been about 2 weeks since I took care of him, he should be perfectly healthy now." She smiled.

'_She had this kind of a side too. Huh.' _Tokugawa thought, slightly surprised since he found her (sometimes, very sometimes) insensitive to a lot of things.

Couple days later—

Tokugawa was strolling through the gardens in the facility—then he noticed a flock of ducks flying away to the South. Then he noticed one duck with a white bandage around its leg.

'_That's Mr. Duck.' _Tokugawa said. _'Huh, maybe it's a different one. Whatever.' _

It was about 3 days after Tokugawa spotted the flock of ducks.

When Tokugawa was getting ready to sleep at 11 PM, Sora was still not in the room.

'_Where is she?' _Tokugawa was slightly worried. Then speak of the devil, the door opened and Sora came in.

"…Welcome back." Tokugawa said.

"Yeah…" Sora, being unusually gloomy, walked into the bathroom to change and wash. She came back and lied down on her bed.

"Where were you?"

"…"

"Oi, Shiroki?"

Tokugawa shot up, wondering why Sora wasn't answering his question.

"Oi, Shiroki."

Tokugawa got out of bed to take a closer look at Sora. Something was definitely weird. Was she bullied or something?

"Shiroki?" Tokugawa tapped her a little. She sat up—and was crying.

"Wh-Why are you crying?!" Tokugawa panicked. "Are you hurt? Do you not feel well?"

"M-Mr… Mr. Duck… He hasn't shown up for 3 days in a row…!" She sobbed. "Wh-What if he was eaten! Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"

She broke out sobbing.

Tokugawa was somewhat relieved but at the same time, surprised by how soft her heart is.

"Shhh, it's okay." Tokugawa gently hugged her. "Listen." Tokugawa lied down in Sora's bed while Sora was clutching onto his shirt, bawling her eyes out.

"I saw Mr. Duck."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah. He was flying away with his duck family 3 days ago. He's heading South because it's about to get cold here."

"…So…"

"He wasn't eaten."

"But I can't see him…!" She said, and started sobbing again.

"It's okay, you can see him next spring when it gets warm over here." Tokugawa consoled her. "So stop crying; Mr. Duck surely wouldn't want to see you cry like this either."

"Waaah…!" She sniffled more; Tokugawa just hugged her tight and let sleep take away her pain.

"It's okay." Tokugawa said and placed a kiss on her forehead. And snapped out—

'_SHIT.' _He looked down and gladly, found her already asleep. _'Phew.' _He sighed.

That night he realized a new side to his feelings.


End file.
